The aim of this book is simple yet ambitious: to produce, in a single volume, a detailed and complete history of the Raleigh cycle company of Nottingham, from its founding to the present. It covers not only bicycles but also motorcycles, cars, vans, munitions, motorcycle engines, and bicycle and motorcycle gears. The story of Raleigh is fascinating in many different respects - the people, the products, the production methods, and more. The personalities involved were many and various, ranging from the founder's ambition to make the best bicycles money could buy to anonymous "suits" almost running the company into the ground from fancy offices in New York. But Raleigh also deeply touched the lives of tens of thousands of other people who depended on it, directly or indirectly, particularly in and around the city of Nottingham.

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A great read about an iconic brand of British bicycle. The history: when takeovers of competing bicycle companies happened and dates when components were changed and improved has also been of special interest to my partner who restores classic bicycles. The photographs alone have helped him in dating frames and fittings.

The author Tony Hadland was also very kind in sending my partner copies of original artwork used in the book for research purposes.

This is an excellent, very comprehensive study of the Raleigh Company, covering its comercial and technical history from the beginning to the present day. I particularly liked the chronological layout of the book, and I also very much liked the way in which the author wove in a variety of comments from contemporary employees of the Company. For anyone interested in the development of the British bicycle industry, its products, people and manufacturing methods, this is, in my opinion, the definitive publication.

I had little knowledge of the role that Raleigh played in the industrial past of England and world wide before reading this book. One of the few technical types books I have bought which was a real pleasure to read. It was fascinating on many levels:- staff welfare and industrial relations in the past, bicycle design, bicycle evolution, large volume production, social history etc. The supporting illustrations were outstanding and gave great clarity to the text. A complete joy, I'd highly recommend this book, besides the use of American spellings and a few errors!!

I previously bought other books by author Tony Hadland. Always very precise, well-informed, reliable information. This book has taken a phenomenal lot of work, and it is published at a moment when the Raleigh brand name, after a decade of trouble has been acquired by the best possible new owners who can give it back its appropriate place on the quality market.I would suggest it to every bicycle enthusiast who can read.

A fascinating book about the up's and down's of trying to make a profit from manufactoring bicycles. Reading this book you will be amazed that Raleigh bicycle even made it into the twentieth century with all the ups and down of demand and massive amounts of borrowing to fund machinery and buy rights. This is a book you can keep picking up open up at a random page and dip into and every time find something worth reading. The research for this book must have been a massive undertaking. Some of the detail it goes into especially on the top spec Raleigh racing bikes and who brazed which tubes. Some great stuff on the racing heritage of Raleigh with the likes of Reg Randall etc. There is also plenty of stuff from my youth to get nostalgic about with the history of the Chopper, and early MTB's and BMX's like the Grifter and Burner. I've read a few more of Tony's books 'the moulton bicycle' 'the sturmey archer story''Spaceframe moulton's' but this one is the best yet in term's of volume and quality of research, well done a must have for anyone interested in cycling history.